new starts
by tatty ted
Summary: New starts only last for a week. - —Karen.


**new starts**

Formally, I was head teacher of a private girl's school in London. I loved my job there it was wonderful, the students were extremely well behaved and every year, my students got good grades.

In fact as a school, we hit the top of the league tables. 99.9 per cent pass rate at GCSE for grades A* - C.

_Of course unknown to the students and teachers I was having a nervous breakdown. _I got divorced from my husband in the spring. He was having an affair with my best friend. Talk about _heartache_!

Maybe, just maybe I might have forgiven him if it hadn't have been somebody who I treated like a sister. London now held too many bad memories and I decided to leave my job.

I was thinking about moving from London, maybe moving to Portsmouth or something? Personally, I wasn't sure.  
I had two children who were settled, sixteen year old Jess and thirteen year old Harry. Could I really leave and unsettle them?

One evening I got a phone call from a friend of mine who lived up north. She told that a head teacher was needed at the  
local comprehensive school and when she told me the name of the school, I nearly dropped the phone. _Waterloo Road__!_

_I never thought in a million years that I'd ever be headmistress of a school that was deemed so poor by critics!_

But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that this could be the opportunity the school and I needed. One it would be a fresh start for me and two, I could help Waterloo Road gain a reputation that was somewhat better than the one they already had.

Yes I'm aware Waterloo Road is nowhere near as bad as what it once was but like every school, there are always room for improvement. I believe the previous headmistress Rachel Mason is it? Sorted out the school the best she could.

It even merged with the local Private school that was sadly closed down due to lack of funds. I applied for the job.  
I didn't think I'd get it. Maybe part of me didn't want it therefore I was surprised when they offered me an interview.

I made the three and a half hour trip from London to Rochdale the night before my interview, staying with the friend who lived nearby the school. She filled me in on what the children were like. _Hooligans _I honestly thought I was going to faint.

_Bullying, Stealing, Fighting, Drug Abuse, High Pregnancy Rate, Lack of Decent GCSE Results_

I was a hundred per cent certain that there was going to be a heck of work that needed to be done to pull this school out of the gutter. Pulling up to school in my brand new BMW that was a 09 plate, I already felt out of place.

I was terrified about leaving my car unattended. What if it happened to get stolen?

Fortunately from my return from the interview, I was somewhat relieved that my car was still standing there, still in one piece.  
Surely it couldn't be that bad around here? I turned the keys in the ignition and made my way down the road.

My eyebrows rose as I spotted a teenage girl standing on the street corner wearing the most revealing outfit I had ever seen. It was obvious she was a hooker and part of me felt sorry for her.

Here I was driving my flash car with a wonderful house and family to return home too and the poor teenager had what? _Like many of them around here. Nothing!_

Arriving home that evening, I was grateful that my children had such a stable home and a good relationship with me. I'm not saying my children and I get on twenty-four seven but we don't row that often. In fact it's very rare for us to argue.

A week passed and I hadn't heard anything from Waterloo Road and although a little disappointed, I didn't allow it to get me down.  
I began to apply for many other head teacher jobs around the country and I got offered an interview in Plymouth.

On that morning however, I received a phone call from Waterloo Road and I was stunned to discover that I had indeed, got the job for headmistress and that it was mine if I still wanted it. Now the big question was did I?

I told them that I wanted the job and that summer, my children and I moved from London to Rochdale. We brought a house just a few miles outside of Rochdale, we hadn't managed to find one near the school that was too our stranded.

Driving up towards the school building, I took a deep breath, the knots in my stomach along with the first time nerves. I was worried! Who wouldn't be worried? I turned to glance at my daughter Jess in the passenger seat.

She was highly intelligent yet was known to be a bit of a big mouth. I was slightly worried that she'd be influenced to disrupt lessons  
along with the other unroll students. I didn't want her to throw away her education. After all, she was perfectly capable of attending Oxford or Cambridge.

Harry, my son who was seated directly behind me in the back was the one I knew I had to keep my eye on. He was the promising footballer who along with Jess wasn't afraid to speak his mind. He could be naughty and I knew, at this school all hell would break loose with him.

Finding an unoccupied parking space, I parked my pride and joy, turned off the engine and stepped out. Glancing up at the building that stood before me, I sighed deeply. I, Karen Melissa Fisher was headmistress of a school that was once named the worst school in England.

_And that certainly wasn't in my life plan._

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